"GOLDl" STNOPPIS -Seeking gold In the d,?er:. fanieron," solitary pros yi-tcr. farms a partnership with J( -renown man whom he later iearks is Jonas Warren, father of ;;*i whom Cameron wronged. married, back in Illinois. ? ro::'s explanations- appease -?v.. ar.J the two proceed to ,? After many hardships \?re re.iuced to the limit of . ai, f-nduranee. In a dying : o,r. ' they seek refuge in a ,, n. occupied by a prehis r>e of the Southwest. '17 W.r ct" a ?? ) Cr < I JI,,v; IwJ-at y he trv i ' " Ti' ? wIm T t: < r re-:, to ? 111 ? Continued. ?2? I off anions the rocks. ho absented himself or ? ] he had no idea. When Warren was sitting before : : :v. and once more he ap He spoke, and his ? ! * deeper note; but other seoined as usual. ::..ked the burros and faced ::i t'Cether. experienced a singular ex He had lightened his com ti. Wonderfully It came V ; he had also lightened his v. that hour it was not tor ink of Nell. IV 7 i e*nv a morning when the ? ?" ! -.-*1 v?.?. -V. Cr ' T1 VlY *'!: I TAM 'i Cl "V. V r the r* r.ngry and red through a ;v haze. in for sandstorms," said ::?! scarcely covered a mile moaning, yellow t!v:::s sand svooped down !. Seeking shelter in the lee n r-?ek. they covered their heads ! : nt!y waited. The long hours the storm increased in Cameron and Warren wet w !:!: water from their canteens. > ! them r?umn their faces, t!,.-n O 'vered their heads. The v. jfii.nv hollow of flying sand ? ?v.. It riew so thickly that enough ' !>w:) under the shelving rock to the l-Ianke's ann almost bury They were frequently coni *o shake i the sand to keep fre::: hcir.r home to the ground. And keep digging out :h-> p yks. They |o h-i:n!< Warren always succeed ? ?! in lm-itrir.g water. They dug, but it lay t"" dep. At length, spent and F^re. th. v f :j nnd slept through that ?!-ht it? -1 part of the r.ext day. Tiien fh. y s 'ii 'l in getting water, and l th -ir thirst, and filled the v!!>. nr.d conked a meal. Tli** Mi rein;: day found them in an Ir.VrmitiaRv wi.tpr Isold out and never stop to rest. \Varron hesan to weaken. Often he had to halt. Cameron measured the water in his canteen I'V its weight. Evaporation hy heat consumed as much as he (Iran'.;. Durins one of the rests, when he had wetted his parched mouth and throat, hp found opportunity to pour a little water from his canteen into Warren's. At first Cameron had curbed bis restless activity to accommodate the ptKe nf iiis elder comrade. But now tie felt that he was losing something his instinctive and passionate zeal to set out of the desert. The thought of water catne to occupy his mind. He he;an to imitpine tlmt his last little store of water did not appreciably di minish. He knew he was not quite r:^t in his mind regarding water; nevertheless, he felt this to be more ?f fact than fancy, and he began to pomler. When next they rested he pretended to he in a kind of stupor: but he cov ertly watched Warren. The man ap peared far none, yet he had cunning. He cautiously took up Cameron's cao twn and poured water Into It from his ot\n. This troubled Cameron. He reflect ed. nnd concluded that he had been unwise not to expect this very thing. Then, (is his comrade dropped into weary rest, he lifted both canteens . there vere any water In Warren's, it was only very little. Both men had lK>eu enduring the terrible desert 'hirst, concealing it. each giving his to the other, and the sacrifice n useless. ? V ?3ste:,'i 0f ministering to the lurched threats of one or both, the ^ at^v* i,no evaporated. When Oam made sure of this, he took one . dria'i, the last, and poured the By ZANE GREY ' '? *? . \ v 1 : i Author of y The Riders of the Purple Sage, Wildfire, Etc. Copyright by Harper & Brothers. 1 little water left Into Warren's can teen. He threw his owl away. I. /* Soon afterward Warren discovered the loss. ! ? "Where's your canteen?" he asked. "The heat was getting my water, so I drank what was left.** "My son !" said Warren. The day opened for them In a red and green hell of rock and cactus. ? Like a flame the sun scorched and peeled their faces. \ Warren went blind from the glare, and Cameron had to lead him. At last Warren plunged down, exhausted. In the shade of a ledge. ? J . Cameron rested and waited, hope less. with not, weary eyes gazing down from their height where he sat. Movement on the part of Warren at tracted his attention. Evidently the old prospector had recovered his sight and some of his strength. For he had arisen, and now began to walk along the arroyo bed with his forked peach branch held before Him. He had clung to that precious bit of wood. Warren, however, stepped in a deep pit, and. cutting his canteen in half, began to use one side of it as a scoop, ne scooped' out a wide hollow, so wide that Cameron was certain he had gone crazy. Cameron gently urged him to stop, and then forcibly tried to make him. But these efforts were futile. Warren worked with slow, ceaseless, methodical movement. He tojled for what seemed hours. Cameron, seeing the darkening, dampening sand, real I ized a wonderful possibility of water, i and he plunged into the pit with the | other half of the canteen. Then both men tolled, round and round the -wide hole, down deeper and deeper. The I sand grew moist, then wet. At the bottom of the deep pit the sand coars ened. gave place to gravel. Finally water welled in. a stronger volume than Cameron ever remembered find i ing' on the desert. The finding of water revived Cam eron's flagging hopes. Rut they were short-lived. Warren had spent him self utterly. "I'm done. Don't linger," he whis pered. "My son, go ? go!" Then he fell. Cameron dragged him out of the sand pit to a sheltered ! place under the ledge. While sitting ! beside the failing man Cameron dis covered painted images on the wall. Often in the desert he had found these evidences of a prehistoric people. Then, from long habit, he picked up a piece of rock and examined It. Its weight made him closely scrutinize It. The color was a peculiar black. He scraped through the black rust, to find a piece of gold. Around him lay ; scattered heaps of black pebbles and j bits of black, weathered rock and "Warren!, Look! See it! Feel It! Gold!" pieces of broken ledge, and they showed gold. "Warren ! Look ! See it ! Feel it ! Gold !" But Warren was too blind to see. "Go ? go!" he whispered. Cameron gazed down the gray reaches of that forlorn valley, and something within him that was nei ther intelligence nor emotion ? some thing Inscrutably strange ? impelled him to promise. *? Then Cameron built up stone manu ments to mark his gold strike. That done, he td'rrled beside the uncon scious Warren. Moments passed ? grew into hours. Cameron still had strength left to make an effort to get out of the desert. But that same In scrutable something which had or dered his strange, Involuntary promise 1 to Warren held him beside his fallen comrade. As the long hours wore on he felt creep over him the comfort ing sense that he need not forever fight sleep. Absolute silence claimed the desert. It was mute. Then that inscrutable something breathed to him, telling him when he was alone. He need not hai? looked at the dark, still face beside him. Another face haiutad Cameron's ? a woman's face. It ^ras there In the white moonlit shadows; It drifted in the darkness beyond; It softened, changed to that of a young girl, sweet, with the same dark, haunting eyes of her mother. Cameron prayed to that nameless thing within him, the spirit j of something deep and mystical as life. I^e prayed for mercy to a wom an ? for happiness to her child. Both mother and daughter were close to him then. Time and distance were annihilated. He had faith ? he saw into the future. The fateful threads of the past, so inextricably woven j with his error, wound out their tragic length here in this forlorn desert. Cameron then took a little tiu box from his pocket, and, opening it, re moved a folded certificate. He had kept A pen, and now he wrote some thing upon yie paper, and in lieu of ink he wrote with blood. The moon afforded him enough light to see; and having replaced the paper, he laid the little box upon a shelf of rock". It would remain there unaffected by dust, moisture, heat, time. How long had those painted images been there clear and sharp on the dry stone walls? Years would pass. Cameron seemed to see them, too; and likewise destiny leading a child down into this forlorn waste, where she would find love and fortune, and the grave of her father. Cameron covered the dark, still face of his comrade from the light of the waning moon. That action was the severing of his hold on realities. They fell away from him in final separation. Vaguely, dreamily he seemed to behold his soul. Night merged into gray day ; and night came again, weird and dark. Then up out of the vast void of the desert, from the silence and iilim itableness, trooped his phantoms of peace. Majestically they formed around him, marshaling and muster ing in ceremonious state, and moved to lay upon him their passionless serenity. ? ? ? ? - \ CHAPTER I Old Friends. Richard Gale reflected that his so journ in the West had been what his disgusted father had predicted ? idling here and dreaming there, with no objective point or purpose. It was reflection such as this, only more serious and perhaps somewhat desperate, that had brought Gale down to the border. For some time the newspapers had been printing news of the Mexican revolution, guerrilla warfare, United States cavalry pa trolling the international line. Ameri can cowboys fighting with the rebels, and wild stories of bold raiders and bandits. Regarding these rumors Gale was skeptical. But as opportunity, and adventure, too. had apparently given him a wide berth in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, he had struck southwest for the Arizona border, where he hoped to see some stirring life. It was after dark one evening in early October when Richard arrived in Capita. There was a jostling, jab bering, sombreroed crowd of Mexicans around the railroad station. He felt as if he were in a foreign country. After a while he saw several men of his nationality, one of whom he en gaged to carry his luggage to a hotel. Of the many people encountered by Gale most were Mexicans. His guide explained that the smaller half of Casita lay In Arizona, the other half in Mexico, and of several thousand inhabitarts the majority belonged on the southern side of the street, which was the boundary line. He also said rhat rebels had entered the town that day, causing a good deal of ex citement. Gale wes almost at the end of his financial resources, which fact occa sioned him to turn away from a pre | tentiou.s hotel and ask his guide for a cheaper lodging house. When this was found, a sight of the loungers in the olfice, and also a desire for com fort, persuaded Gale to change his traveling clothes for rough outing garb and boots. { "Well, I'm almost broke," he solilo quized, thoughtfully. "The governor said I wouldn't make any money. He's right? so far.- And he said I'd be coming home beaten. There he's wrong. I've got a hunch that somfe thlng 'II happen to me in this Greaser town." He went out into the wide, white washed, high-ceiled corridor, and from that into an immense room which, but for pool tables, bar and benches, would have been like a courtyard. Bare-legged, sandal-footed Mexicans In white rubbed shoulders with Mexicans mantled in black and red. There were black-bearded, coarse-visa ged Americans, some gam bling round the little tables, others drinking. There were khaki-clad eav -alrymen strutting in ana out At one end of the room, somewhat apart from the general melee, was a group of six men round a little table, four of wtm were seated, the other two standing. These last two drew a second glano? from Gale. The * C, 'V J ( sharp-featured bronzed faces and piercing eyes, the tall, slender, loosely jointed bodies, the quiet, eaay, reck less air that seemed to be a part of the men ? these things would plainly have stamped them as cowboys with out the buckled sombreros, the col ored scarfs the high-topped, high heeled boots with great silver-roweled spurs. He satisfied his hunger in a restau rant adjoining, and as he stepped bac^ into the saloon a man wearing a military cape jostled him. Apolo gies from both were Instant. Gale was moving on when the other stopped short as if startled, and, leaning for ward. exclaimed? "Dick Gale? If this isn't great! Don't you know me?" "I've heard your voicfe somewhere," replied Gale. "Maybe I'll recognize you if you came out from under that bonnet." For answer the man. suddenly mani festing thought of himself, hurriedly drew Gale into the restaurant, where he thrust back his hat to disclosfe a handsome, sunburned face. . "George Thorne! So help n^e ? " "'S-s-ssh. Tou needn't yell," Inter rupted the other, as he met Gale's outstretched hand. There was a close, hard, straining grip. "I must not be recognized here1. There are reasons. I'll explain in a minute. Say. but it's fine to see you ! Five years, Dick, five years since I saw you run down Uni versity field and spread-eagle the whole Wisconsin football team." "Don't recollect that,* replied Dick, laughing. "George, I'll bet you I'm gladder to see you than you are to see me. It seems so long. You went into the army, didn't you?" "I did. I'm here now \ifith the Ninth cavalry. But ? never njind me. What're you doing way down here?" "On the square, George, I don't know any more why I'm here than ? than you know." "Well, that beats me!" ejaculated Thorne, sitting b:ick in his chair, amaze and concern in his expression. "What the devil's wrong? Your ol|| man's got too much money for you ever to be up against it. Dick, you couldn't have gone to the bad?" A tide of emotion surged over Gale. How good it was to meet a friend ? someone to whom to talk! He had never appreciated his loneliness until that moment. "George, how I ever drifted down here I don't know. I didn't exactly quarrel with the governor. But ? d? n It, Dad hurt me ? shamed me. and I dug out for the West. It was this way. After leaving college I tried to please, him by "tackling one thing after another that he set mle to do. On the square, I had no Bead for business. I made a mess of every thing. The governor got sore. When I quit ? when I told him straight out that I was going west to fare for my self. why, it wouldn't have j been so tough if he hadn't laughed at me. He said I couldn't earn a dol!ar--that I'd starve out west, and couldn't get back home unless I sent to him fur money. He said lie didn't believe I could fijriit ? could really make a [fight for anything under the sun Oh ? he ? he shot it into nie ail right." Dick dropped his head ppon his hands, somewhat- ashamed I of the smarting dimness in his eyesL "Fight !" cried Thornej hotly. "What's ailing him? Didn't |they call you Biff Gale in college? Dick, you were one of the best men siagg ever developed." "The governor didn't count foot ball," said Dick. "He didn't mean that kind of a fight. When I left home I don't think I had an idea what was wrong of me. But. George, I think I know now. I was a rich man's son ? spoiled, dependent, absolutely Igno rant of the value of money. I haVen't yet discovered any earning capacity in me. I seem to be unable tp do any thing with my hands. That's the trouble. But I'm at the end of my tether now. And I'm going Ito punch cattle or be a miner, or do some real stunt ? like joining the rebels." "Aha ! I thought you'd spring that last one on me," declared! wagging his head. "Well, Thome, you jiist forget it. Say, old boy, there's some thing doing in Mexico. Th States in general doesn't Realize it. But across that line there ire crazy revolutionists. Ill-paid soldiers, guer rilla leaders, raiders, robbers e United outlaws, bandits galore, starving peohs by the thousaud, girls and women in terror. Mexico Is like some of her vc Icanoes ? ready to erupt fire and hell! Don't Hiake the awful mistake of Joining the rebel forces. If you didn't starve or get shot in ambush, or die of thirst, some Greaser would knife you In the hack for your belt buckle or boots. There are a good many Americans with the rebels eastward toward Agua Prleta and Juarez. Orozco is operat ing in Chihuahua, and I guess he has some idea of warfare. But this Is So nora, a mountainous desert, jthe home of the slave and the Yaqui, There's unorganized revolt everywhere. We're patrolling the boundary line. We're making a grand bluff. I could tell you of a dozen Instances wherp cavalry should have pursued raiders on the other side of the line. But we won't do IL The officers are a pouchy lot these days. You see, of course, what significance would attach to United States cavalry going into Mexican ter ritory. There would simply be hell. My own colonel is the sorest man on the Job. We're all gore. It's like sit thlng on a powder magazine. We can't keep the rebels and raiders from cross- 1 tag the line. Yet we don't fight My commission expires soon. Ill be di? charged in three months. You can bet I'm glad for more reasons than I've mentioned." Thome was evidently laboring un der strong, suppressed excitement. .His face showed pale under the tan, and his eyes gleamed with a dark fire. He had seated himself at a table near one of the doorlike windows leading Into the street, and every little while he would glance sharply out Also he kept consulting his watch. These details gradually grew upon Gale as Thome talked. "George. It strikes me that you're upset," said Dick, presently. "I seem to remember you as a cool-headed fellow whom nothing could disturb. Has the army changed you 7' Thome laughed. It was a laugh with a strange, high note. It was reckless ? it hinted of exaltation. He peered out one window, then another. His actions were rapid. Returning to the table, he put his hands upon It and leaned over to look closely Into Gale's face. "I'm away from camp without leave." he said. "Isn't that a serious offense?" asked Dick. / "Serious? For me. If I'm discov ered, it means ruin. There are rebelf i.f J Blik I . . ; ; "Serious? For Me, If I'm Discovered, It Means Ruin ? " in town. Any moment we might have trouble. I ought to be ready for duty ? within call. If I'm discovered It means arrest. That means delay ? the failure of my plans? ruin." Thorne bent over closer with hla dark eyes searchingly bright. "What would you say, Dick Gale, if I told you that you're the one man Td rather have come along than any other at this crisis of my life?" The earnest gaze, the passionate voice with its deep tremor drew Dick upright, thrilling and eager, conscious of strange, unfamiliar impetuosity. "Thorne, I should say I was glad to be the fellow," replied Dick. Their hands locked for the moment, and they sat down again with heads close over the table. "Listen," began Thorne, in low, swift whisper, "a few days, a week ago ? it seems like a year!? I was of some assistance to refugees fleeing from Mexico into the States. They were all women, and one of them was dressed as a nun. Quite by accident I saw her face. It was that of a beautiful girl. I observed she kept aloof from the others. I suspected a disguise, and, when opportunity af forded, spoke to her, offered my serv ices. She replied to my poor efforts at Spanish In fluent English. She had fled in terror from her home, some place down ? In Sinaloa. Rebels are active there. Her father was cap tured and held for ransom. When the ransom was paid the rebels killed him. The leader of these rebels was a bandit named Rojas. Rojas saw the daughter.' made off with her. But she contrived to bribe her guards, and escaped almost Immediately before any harm befell her. She hid among friends. Rojas nearly tore down the , town in his efforts to find her. Then j she disguised herself and traveled by horseback, stage and train to Casita. "She had no friends here, no money She knew Rojas was trailing her. This talk I had with her was at the railroad station, where all was bustle and confusion. No one noticed us, so ; I thought. I advised her to remove the disguise of a nun before she left the waiting-room. And 1 got a boy to guide her. But he fetched her to this house. I had promised to come In the evening to talk over the situation with her. "I found her, Dick, and when I saw ' her? I went stark, staring, raving mad over her. She Is the most beautiful, wonderful girl I ever^aw. Her name is Mercedes Casta neda, and she be longs to one of the old wealthy Span ish families. She has lived abroad and In Havana. She speaks French as well as English. She Is ? but I must be brief. "Dear lady, Rojas will hound you no more tonight, nor for many nights." (TO BE CONTINUED.) What Wives Know. "Experience teaches a wife that th? more she agrees with her husband, no matter how big a fool he Is, the better she gets on," said a woman in an Gnp Uah police court p > ' ? " I , " Buy It Either Way Tablets or lipl PE-RU-NA A Great Medicine Mn.lLJ.Bney. B.B. No. L Box m.CU vert, Texas, write*: "I bare used Pe-rn-na and too# It U good for colds, ooulu and catarrh. It cored my catarrh and I do not take cold when I on Pe-ru-na. Ma a great medicine." Daring the last fifty years, Pe-rn-na baa been looked upon aa the reliable medicine for catarrh of every description, whether It be of the nose and throat, stoimrh, bowel* or other organs. By keening Pe-rn-na la the bona* for emergencies, eerloos sickness may fre quently be prevented. Use 11 after the flip or Spanish Flu. Sold Everywhere "PROUD 10 SAY . CAM DID II" Nashville Lady Attributes Good Health to Cardui ? ' Says She Was Suffering Agony When She Began to Take It. Nashville, Tenn. ? Mrs. Dudley B. Stuart, 519 Ash Street, this city, re cently mf.de the following statement: "Before I started taking Cardui, I was sick in bed. I weighed 90 pounds. "My mother came to see me and told me to get Cardui. My husband went to town and brought home two bottles which I took. At once I began to Im prove, although up to that time I had taken medicine, but it had not helped me at all. From the first dose of Cardui my appetite began to come back. "I bad been suffering from female trouble. ..was so weak and in Buch a run-down condition. J That was two years ago.... I kept on taking Cardui as a tonic. "My appetite is good. I certainly owe a lot to this fine medicine. Nothing did me any good until I began to take It It made me gain 48 pounds. I don't weigh quite so much now on account of the baby nursing, but I feel perfectly well. I am very grateful for what it has done for me, for I was suffering agony when I began to take it.'' Writing later of her experience in the use of Oardui, Mrs. Stuart said: "My health is better now than ever and am proud to say Cardui did it." Poet With Blr.nk Mind. Poet ? I put my whole wind into this poem. Editor ? Evidently. I see that It's blank verse. If You Need a Medicine You Should Have the Best Have yon ever stopped to reason why it is that so many products that are ex tensively advertised, all at once drop out of sight and are soon forgotten? The reason is plain? the article did not fulfill the promises of the manufacturer. This applies more particularly to a medicine. A medicinal preparation that has real curative value almost sells itself, as like an endless chain system the remedy is recommended by those who have been benefited to those who are in need of it. A prominent druggist says, "Take for example Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Root, a preparation I have sold for many year* and never hesitate to recommend, for ia almost every case it shows excellent re mits, a# many of my customers testify. No other kidney remedy has so large a sale." According to sworn statements and verified testimony of thousands who have used the preparation, the success of Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Roofc is due to the fact, so many people claim, that it fulfills al most every wish in overcoming kidney, liver and bladder ailments, corrects uri naiy troubles and neutralizes the uric acid which causes rheumatism. You may receive a sample bottle of Swamp-Root by parcel post. Address Dr. Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N. Y., and enclose ten cents; also mention this paper. Large and medium size bottles for sale at all drug stores? Advertisement. It Is better to break np a quarrel than to patch It up. Sure Relief FOR INDIGESTION 6 Bell-ans Hot water Sure Relief ELLANS ?54 AND 75 4 RACKftGES EVERYWHERE